boat trailer/ Sport by spartan

[youngie22]

I have an older Boat trailer, and went to pull it out to fish today w/ the little girl. Thought I had heard a bearing squeek, went to check bearing buddies. Check left side and hadn't moved much at all and still good grease. Checked other side and waht looked like the bearing housing and tire/ wheel broke loose off the axle. it would probably be easy enough to replace whole axle and everything (atleast 20 years old) Or can I just replace a new housing on the axle and mount same tire to new housing, and have new bearing buddies installed. What route would be best? Where can I find parts? Spartan formely out of W. St. Paul is now longer. would sure like to use again this year, many fish to catch, ducks to shoot, deer to chase! thanx for any and all help. -Jason

[Phred52]

youngie22, By the 'bearing housing', I'd guess that you are refering to the hub? Is it the part that the wheel/tire bolt to? If so, It would sound like you have suffered a bearing failure already and were VERY lucky to make it to where you had it stored!! To see if it is repairable, remove the bearing buddy, then the cotter pin, the castle nut (looks like it sounds) or nut retainer and nut, the washer and then the outer bearing. Pull off the bearing housing/hub and finally (if it hasn't come off in the hub already) the inner bearing and grease seal. Now, on the "spindle" (the thing with the threads that all this stuff came off of) look at the smooth area right behind the threads,clean off the grease and run your fingers around it, feel for nicks burrs anything that doesn't feel like it belongs there. If all is good, you can take the bearing housing and the bearing into an auto parts store and get a new bearing and race set and just replace it ,you should be good to go again. If you find burrs and nicks etc, the spindle may have suffered damage and will need to be repaired/ replaced. The complete axle is NOT a cheap /easy fix! Just this spring, I helped a buddy replace his torsion axle to the tune of ~$540, that was ONLY the axle, no hubs or outside labor!! Take a look at the thread at the top of this forum, "How to repack wheel bearings" by Dave. VERY Explicit and informative. You'll also be able to tell if the job is within your abilities. Good luck, Phred52

[youngie22]

yes phred, I am talking about the hub. bearing budie either rattled off or knocked off some time. bearings are shot I'm pretty sure along w/ the hub for sure. I checked out championtrailers dot com. thought they had some good prices on hubs. should be within my abilities, biggest issue I think will be time. We'll see how it goes. busy time of the year, and the boat will be missed during any of its down time! Thank you for the heads up. I hipe all goes smooth!

[Phred52]

youngie22, If the hubs are shot, you don't need to go to a Spartan dealer, or even a trailer retailer. Just find out what the bearing numbers are, both the inner and outer, (sometimes they're the same, sometimes different) and check out Northern Tool, Fleet-Farm or any stores of the like. Most will have replacement hub sets where you get all the parts that you should need. Good luck, Phred52

[Tom7227]

Youngie - You're looking at maybe three hours of work that isn't all that complicated. Hardest part will be removing the races if you don't replace the hubs. Take a punch with a good flat tip and just tap it out by giving it a whack, move a bit, another whack, etc. until it pops out. You then take the new one and tap it down using the same tap, move, tap, move until it's seated properly. Follow the instructions on the top thread about regreasing the new bearings and you should be good to go. Big issue with bearing buddies is over-greasing and blowing out the back seal. You're probably better off without them. Should only cost about $40 if all you need is the bearings, races and a new cap for the hub. Northern does a pretty good job of getting you the correct parts.

[youngie22]

thanx guys, pretty sure the hub is shot. Hope to be able to dig into it this week. ufortunately I won't be able use the boat for a week or so. But I did take the tire off and the hub has about an inch of play... Normal? or maybe somthing wrong w/ axle too??? what do you guys think? thanx guys -Youngie22